This invention is directed to a portable electrical mechanical toy wherein the operator of the toy guides a small object, for example a race car, over a path created by a plurality of endless belts having collision obstacles on the surface of the endless belts. The path which the object must traverse is a continuously variable path because the number of and the location of the obstacles on the endless belts is such that, as the belts move, the position of any two collision obstacles in respect to one another is variable. Through a combination of the control of the speed of the belts and direction of rotation of the belts, the operator of the toy can steer or drive the object through a pathway that does not result in the collision of the object with any of the obstacles.
Presently there are two general types of mechanical apparatuses wherein an object is driven over or through a course which is painted or otherwise constructed on the surface of an endless belt. The first type of these apparatuses are used as training devices for teaching the handling and/or manipulation of an automobile or an airplane through or across a roadway or flight path which is formed on the surface of or projected from an endless belt or filmstrip mounted in the apparatus. The second class of these apparatuses is very similar to the first but is principally directed to "penny arcade" type amusement devices which require the operator of the apparatus to drive, fly or otherwise manipulate an object such as a race car or airplane through a pathway created by an endless belt or filmstrip and can include counting devices and/or penalty devices for accumulating and/or subtracting scoring points. Said scoring points reflecting the ability of the operator to successfully manipulate the object across the path and/or avoid obstacles.
Both of the two types of mechanical apparatuses, however, require large consoles and/or other supports and as such are expensive to produce and maintain and their use is limited to fixed training areas or amusement centers.
There is an additional class of games that has recently become available which utilize control modules in conjunction with television sets or other cathode ray tubes. While the modules of these games are portable, the total game itself is not in that it requires the use of the television or cathode ray tube to augment the module. Further because these devices incorporate sophisticated electronics they are also expensive.
For the devices which depend solely upon mechanically based tracks or paths as opposed to sophisticated electronically generated paths, the path is normally created by a endless belt, a disc or a repeating filmstrip. Because of the space limitation of storing an endless belt or filmstrip coupled with the direct manufacturing costs associated with each particular increment of length of said belt or filmstrip, the belt or filmstrip can only be of a limited length and as such can only contain a particular finite variation of pathway on the surface of the endless belt or filmstrip. The operator of such devices is thus able to quickly memorize the pattern of these endless belts or filmstrips and thus after only a few times of operating the device, the device no longer becomes challenging to the operator and interest in the device quickly subsides.
It is considered that games utilizing endless belts have a very definite recreation value, however, in view of the above inherent properties of the prior art devices including large physical size, easily memorized travel paths, and manufacturing expenses it is considered that there exists a need for small portable raceway toys which present a variable raceway or obstacle path which must be traversed. Further these toys must be economical to manufacture, durable during repeated use and capable of maintaining the interest of a large variety of age ranges of users.